Taxes, red tape snarl tourism, Senate panel told

Cambridge inn owner reveals rural woes; rail unfriendly to bicyclists

One of the Cuomo administration's catchphrases on economic development assets that the state is "open for business." But that's not always the case, according to several who testified Wednesday before a state Senate committee on regulation reform.

"From my perspective, we are not open for business," Christine Hoffer said, referring to the general state of affairs in rural New York.

Hoffer, who runs the Rice Mansion Inn bed and breakfast in Cambridge, said that bucolic village is turning into a ghost town, with 100,000 square feet of empty space for sale, rent or simply empty along the main drag. Her 12-room inn carries a property and school tax bill of almost $18,000, she said.

Nearby, the Cambridge Hotel, which was featured in an episode of celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay's makeover show "Hotel Hell," has been empty for more than a year, tangled in debt and back taxes.

"Wow," said western New York GOP Sen. Pat Gallivan, who led the hearing along with fellow Republican Kathy Marchione of Halfmoon, and Independent Democratic Conference member David Valesky from Central New York.

Part of a statewide road show by the majority coalition of Republicans and members of the IDC, Wednesday's testimony focused on the tourism and hospitality industries, which the governor has identified as a key upstate economic driver.

Courtesy Kyle Hughes of NYSNYS.com.

Media: Times Union

The meeting was held at the Quad/Graphics printing facility in the town of Saratoga, a roughly 10-minute bike ride from Saratoga Springs — one of the Capital Region's tourism success stories. Bikes, however, were a sore point with several of the speakers.

Tourism experts say there is a vast market of recreational bicyclists in New York City and Montreal, but they've tried for years with no success to get Amtrak to offer trains that allow people to bring their bikes to the Spa City and other upstate tourist destinations.

An experimental program over the summer in which people could bring their bikes on the cafe cars worked well, Shimkus said, but regulators appear to want a more complicated and costly plan such as separate bike cars — even though there's no money to fund it. (DOT spokesman Beau Duffy said the agency is studying the issue and currently reviewing feedback from Amtrak users.)

Senseless and capricious regulations were also mentioned by several speakers. John Lemery, a lawyer for Howe Caverns, recounted the ordeal it went through in getting the state Department of Labor to approve the use of an "H2OGo" — a 12-foot-wide water-filled inflatable ball that participants ride inside down a track.

Initially the Department of Labor office in Buffalo didn't know what an H2OGO was, so Howe Caverns said the state could look it up on YouTube. State workers, though, aren't allowed to use YouTube at work.

Then, just before the attraction was to open, an inspector said he needed an engineering report on the amount of water used. "They were making up rules on the fly," said Lemery.

Eventually, Howe Caverns opened the attraction despite warnings that they would face a daily $4,000 fine if it didn't have the proper sign-offs.

Albany-Colonie Chamber official warns that letting potential new gambling casinos have large performance venues is a threat to SPAC, Proctors, Troy Music Hall, the Palace and others. Video by Kyle Hughes, NYSNYS.com.